# Chapter 4. First Impressions

"You see to sea to see that all you can see is sea" (Unknown origin)

First impressions are so important -- this is not only true for Agatha Christie's famous thriller "The Mousetrap" -- but also for KDE. As we mentioned before, KDE is supposed to be the most intuitive, easy to learn user interface available. In fact, we will have reached our goal when users no longer need this book in order to work with KDE, causing the authors to lose their (unpaid and voluntary) jobs as documentors.

# 4.1. Starting KDE

When you boot a UNIX system, one of two things should happen (that is, if the system works correctly; everything else is an undocumented third case). Either you stay in text mode and get a login prompt or you are presented with a graphical login window. In the former case, you must log into your system and type:

     startx

If the installation was successful, the KDE desktop should appear after a few seconds of initialization.

If a graphical login window is presented, then all that should be required is your login name and password. Assuming the KDE installation was successful, KDE should start without further intervention.

If you have not done so already, we recommend changing your X display manager from xdm to kdm, which includes the same functionality, but with the advanced features of the K Desktop Environment.